By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
A Del Rio resident told members of county commissioners court Wednesday she believes problems with the Amistad Dam present an “imminent danger” to the county.
Del Rio resident Bea Vallejo made her comments to the court
during the citizens’ comments portion of its July regular term meeting.
Vallejo told the court, “At one time, the water from the Devils River was flowing at 1 million cubic feet per second. It (was) like the Mississippi and the Euphrates Rivers, and it caused much flooding, and so Amistad Dam was constructed to end all floods, due to the damage caused by the 1954 flood caused by Hurricane Alice.
“As of July 29, 2024, the Amistad Reservoir is at 25 percent capacity. The reservoir storage is 628,544 acre-feet of water. A year ago, it was averaging 37 percent of capacity. The capacity is based on a total conservation capacity of the 56 percent, based on the treaty between Mexico and the U.S.
“The sinkholes that are found on Amistad Dam appear to be on the Mexican side, but they say there are 12, but I don’t see 12 gates on the Mexican side. But anyway, we aim to keep our promise and provide 56 percent funding for the repair phase,” Vallejo said.
She said in 2023 she discovered that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had given Amistad Dam a Level II rating in its Dam Safety Action Classifications (DSAC), listing it as “potentially unsafe,” and the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC), which operates and maintains the dam with its partner agency in Mexico, has said “urgent actions are needed based on the high risk in terms of the combination of potential loss of life and economic damages.”
“(This) is a high level of urgency, placing Amistad Dam and Val Verde County in imminent danger,” Vallejo told the court.
“I spoke with many elected officials, and none – none – even (Texas) Gov. Greg Abbott, knew of the danger that Amistad Dam was posing. At the time, I made the request to all elected officials representing Val Verde County to form a coalition for three reasons: one, to get repairs done ASAP. Two, through the different offices involved in solving the structural problem, the general public would be informed as to the progress and three, to ensure that Amistad Dam would not get a Band-Aid fix. However, not a single elected official took the matter to heart,” she said.
Vallejo continued, “Today, we find Amistad Dam on the (commissioners court) agenda, with tentative repair information published, but are we sure the federal government is fixing the problem? Well, we really do not know, because I would venture to say that no city, county, state or federal elected official has attended a single meeting or virtual meeting on the Amistad Dam, nor have any spoken to the commissioner or chief engineer assigned to the dams from El Paso to the Gulf of Mexico or to the civil engineer from San Diego, Calif., who has been working on preparations and repairs of the sinkholes throughout 2023.
“I do not believe anyone has reviewed the biannual reports to the National Dam Safety Program for years 2007 through 2023, which were submitted to Congress by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA.) The problem exists here in Val Verde County,” she said.
Vallejo said she also wanted to know why the IBWC held a meeting about Amistad Dam in Mercedes, Texas.
“We’re not invited to attend those meetings. We don’t even know when those meetings take place. But the stakeholders know. They’re invited and they attend. They have access to the information, and they also know how the repairs are coming along and what the progress has been toward the repairs.
“Billions will be spent on repairing and adding cement slabs. I have yet to see any bathymetric or scientific measurements of the official depth of the cement columns, because in reality, I don’t think anyone knows how far they’re going to have to dig to find solid rock,” Vallejo said.
She also spoke about the nature of the mitigation efforts she had read about and said, “Nature will continue to take its toll on the actual structure, eventually leading to the permanent demolition of Amistad Dam, and this will take within 10 to 15 years. It would have been better to build a new dam down the river.
“At the same time, I must remind everyone that cement and limestone are both porous, and when water gets moving, nothing stops it. Although limestone is extremely durable, it does absorb water. It is highly reactive to acidic rainwater, suffering substantial deterioration,” she added.
“When I researched the problem at Amistad Dam, I uncovered many cavern veins. These veins contain a water supply that continues on to the Mexican side. Once the repairs are done on Amistad Dam, the veins will dry up and cause the ground to sink, and in the precise place where these veins are, we plan to build a new international bridge, plus the magnitude of earthquakes in and around I(nterstate) 20 may affect the Amistad Dam structure.
“Lastly, has anyone taken the time to consider the sinkholes that may appear on private properties on the U.S. side? Thank you,” Vallejo finished.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com.
